Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Can someone explain Apple’s resistance to RCS messaging protocol? What are Apple getting from not adopting it? More people switching to iPhones because of iMessage? If so, iMessage is underused here in Europe as most people continue using WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc. instead, all of which are cross-platform.

I will argue that Apple, like any company, doesn’t see any reason to channel their already limited time and resources into endeavours that do not result in a direct benefit to their business model.

It’s like how I still don’t get push gmail in the stock mail app because Google doesn’t want to support it.

It’s no different from a person realising that he doesn’t have the bandwidth to accommodate every single request that comes his way and so has to be very focused and selective on how he wants to spend his time at work and who he decides to help.

That’s why Apple continues to be as successful as they are today. They remain laser focused on what they want to do, and what they won’t do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
I wish that Apple would use it as their way to get android messages instead of SMS because it is secure where SMS isn’t. Apple could still keep that ugly green bubble and they could still keep iMessage for those that want to use it.
It would have been good for folks in the US if the carriers had completed CCMI, which was based on the REAL carrier supported RCS, BUT, in the end, they decided it wasn’t worth it.
 
When you roll like Apple does, you don’t pay any attention to the competition. They pay attention to YOU.😑😎
 

Attachments

  • 52C6DBBF-FBED-4F04-8CB6-804BD24EF6DB.jpeg
    52C6DBBF-FBED-4F04-8CB6-804BD24EF6DB.jpeg
    61.9 KB · Views: 48
It's a completely toxic idea that people are affected by the colour of their message blobs. Just think about humanity's direction.
It’s not about the color of their message blobs; it’s about functionality. That’s why if we had RCS on iPhones people wouldn’t care about iMessage so much. SMS/MMS is terrible compared to iMessage. RCS is much more comparable to iMessage. We like “blue” messages not because of the color. We like it because of how well it works. The “texting” experience between iPhones is wildly different (better) than the texting experience between iPhone and Android. RCS would bridge the gap, and therefor Apple would lose some of the motivation for people to stay with Apple (in demographics where lots of people use iMessage).
 
Last edited:
I don’t think anyone, especially Apple, considers the Pixel “competition”. EVERYONE compares themselves to Apple, when they can barely give the Pixel away at less than half the price.

That’s not competition.

Competition is good. Remember when iPhone didn’t have copy paste?
 
  • Like
Reactions: black_knight
I don’t think anyone, especially Apple, considers the Pixel “competition”. EVERYONE compares themselves to Apple, when they can barely give the Pixel away at less than half the price.

That’s not competition.
As I like to say, there's competition, and there's meaningful competition.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
I might be blind or stupid, but my position is really simple: Other manufacturers make great phone hardware, often better than Apple's in terms on cameras, etc, and arguably design. But nobody but Apple controls the chip manufacturing, and nobody but Apple controls the OS the phone's on. iPhone OS is better than Android - so people say. So whatever the hardware it's never even a temptation. Or is that simplifying matters too much?
Nobody? What about Google?
 
Maybe Apple can agree to join RCS once everyone else has. Which at this rate will be never. Wasn’t that protocol introduced over a decade ago?
 
What? It's super easy to adblock in Safari on the iPhone.

Try uninstalling the Facebook app on a Samsung phone... That's a showstopper right there for me.
Way long ago when I was maaaaybe considering a Galaxy, I learned that you can’t completely get rid of Facebook app on their devices. After coming to my senses and slapping my own face, I happily continued my relationship with Apple :)
 
Apple isn’t always first, but their implementation is usually best. The didn’t have first MP3 player, didn’t have the first smartphone, didn’t have the first smartwatch, didn’t have the first wireless earbuds. But when they did have them, they were best in class and then the first movers all pivoted to follow Apple.
I agree. Take the folding screens for example. The ones out now suck from what I’ve heard. They fail and ones I’ve seen, you can notice the fold. Another example is hidden front camera. They can claim it’s hidden behind the screen but if you look closely you can see an pixelated hole. Apple releases features that have the best user experience and won’t release something just to be first.

Speaking of copying, Google just came out with a watch. Looks like a round Apple Watch! Except being round kills a lot of screen real estate.
 
Competition is good. Remember when iPhone didn’t have copy paste?

I use both platforms and both have nice features that I wish they would copy from one another but that’s mostly due to habits like I find it cumbersome to get an adblocker working on my Samsung while it’s super easy and straight forward on iOS. iOS does not offer enough customization of features they do have. Like I would love to be able to share my actual focus status
Apple chose not to include copy and paste in a cumbersome and unusable way. This was the first real application of a mobile device with no buttons so a way to do it without a mouse had to be developed and was not ready. While Android seemed to beat Apple to the punch later, when Apple released their version it was quickly copied.
 
It’s not about the color of their message blobs; it’s about functionality. That’s why if we had RCS on iPhones people wouldn’t care about iMessage so much. SMS/MMS is terrible compared to iMessage. RCS is much more comparable to iMessage. We like “blue” messages not because of the color. We like it because of how well it works. The “texting” experience between iPhones is wildly different (better) than the texting experience between iPhone and Android. RCS would bridge the gap, and therefor Apple would lose some of the motivation for people to stay with Apple (in demographics where lots of people use iMessage).
Relevant: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-ap...teens-dread-the-green-text-bubble-11641618009
 
Does anyone know anyone who can remind the minds at Google that ALL OF THEIR ANDROID OS started off as an iOS rip off ?!
 
Google has always had some cool features and apps, but often they were buggy and when they decided they wanted to be Microsoft, it didn’t matter what they put their name on, a lot of people wouldn’t use it.

This latest shift in strategy is no doubt because they lost the lions share of the smart phone market to Apple, right here in the US, and that’s got to sting.
 
I know, right? Imagine a manufacturer developing features that not only help sell the product but keep people buying said product. Anti-competitive I tell you.
My point is that we're in a society where people mostly care about the surface - maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's not. I'll not be the judge of that.

Very few people in Europe buy the iPhone just for iMessage and have converged on services which interoperate.

Personally, I don't give a damn how my message gets to someone, as long as it does. SMS is reliable enough for most use cases, and social communication tends to be over apps such as WhatsApp.

It wasn't long ago in the US that you had to pay to both send and receive SMS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: namavadhuta
What are you talking bout? google yesterday unveiled Faceid, Cinematic Mode, resolution crops, etc as if they were new features but they have already been on iPhones for a long time. Apple could claim how the competition has copied all their features in every keynote and ad if they wanted to. There is no worse blind man than the one who doesn't want to see.
LoL
Face unlocking tech was first introduced in Android 4 way back in 2011.
"Resolution crop, yeah reminds me of Nokia 808's losless zoom. Pixels already had 2x lossless zoom and the corresponding 2x button in the camera app and most androids with large sensors did a 2x crop on the main sensor. Google only put a little more marketing behind something they already had. So in translation , it's not a new festure that Apple invented.
Portrait video or live focus was first introduced by Samsung with the Note 10.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LD517
Speaking of copying, Google just came out with a watch. Looks like a round Apple Watch! Except being round kills a lot of screen real estate.
Fascinating, why would it be a "round Apple Watch" when the market is full of round smart watches? It doesn't make any sense.
 
Google and Samsung constantly half-ass features like Face ID or camera night mode and then Apple eventually does it correctly and everyone says they're copying... It's frustrating. It wouldn't surprise me if Google's car crash detection sucked balls too.

Edit: big shocker, first result on Reddit for pixel car crash detection:
RCS is a straight up clone of iMessage anyway. Took them how many years to get around to that one? Glass houses.
Right. A lot of the Google or Samsung firsts come straight off the MacRumors leaks of Apple features or sniffing around apple’s patent filings and rushing something to market to claim they were first. Then when apple actually releases what they spent 3 years instead of 3 months working on, the Googles of the world try to copy their solution.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: daveathall
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.